Magnus Cort Nielsen is one stage away from winning the 2018 Tour de Yorkshire after holding on to his leader’s jersey following the third day finale in Scarborough.
The Danish rider heads into Sunday’s historic and maiden fourth day with a ten-second advantage over Belgium’s Greg van Amermaet, with racing taking the group from Halifax to Leeds.
But it was Germany’s Maximilian Walscheid who secured the stage win after rolling out of Richmond, with Fred Wright and James Shaw 28th and 29th for the Great Britain Cycling Team.
But it was Gabriel Cullaigh who crossed the line first for the team, in 17th.
Tom Pidcock also continued his fine maiden Tour with 32nd on the stage – comfortably sitting in the top 30 in the general classification with one more push to go.
Thousands greeted the 126 remaining riders as Richmond played host to the third stage, with five riders initiating a strong lead over the peloton, including grey jersey winner and Briton Pete Williams.
Indeed it was that quintet that contested the Morton-On-Swale sprint, the first of the day, with Robbert de Greef taking the points for Team Roompot ahead of Adam Kenway.
Come Cote de Sutton Bank it was the same names doing the damage, this time across the hills as Williams rallied his way to first place while de Greef took the next sprint, this time in Pickering.
As the 181km wore on, the more the leading group looked like consolidating their advantage as Johnny McEvoy of Madison Genesis led out the King of the Mountain charge atop the Cote de Silpho.
But with a little more than 20km to go the breakaway group was hauled in, with the final assault into Scarborough looking like going down to a sprint finish.
And so it proved as Walscheid took the honours from the dramatic late charge onto the North Bay, with a plethora of Great Britain Cycling Team riders hot on his back wheel as thousands descended on the finish line in glorious sunshine.
Connor Swift of Madison Genesis was the leading Brit, crossing the line in fifth place, while Adam Blythe also took his place in the top 15 for Aqua Blue Sport.
His teammates Mark Christian and Daniel Pearson lead the way for the home nation in the general classification, ahead of Ian Bibby, while Great Britain Cycling Team’s Shaw is 18th – 41 seconds behind leader Nielsen.
